Govt pledges £14bn business rates support in Autumn Statement

Hunt, who laid out his long-awaited economy plan for the UK on Thursday (17 November), pledged £13.6 billion in tax cuts for companies over a period of five years and said a revaluation of rates would ago ahead from April 2023.

He said bills paid by businesses “should accurately reflect their market value”, promising two-thirds of properties “won’t pay a penny next year”. 

Addressing MPs in Parliament, Hunt also promised a government-funded “transitional relief scheme” would be launched, which he claimed would benefit around 700,000 businesses.

Setting out his economic plan, just weeks after predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget, Hunt said the country faced “unprecedented global headwinds”, adding his three priorities were “stability, grow and public services”.

More widely, Hunt said the point at which the highest earners start paying the top rate of tax is to be lowered from £150,000 to £125,140, while energy firms are to be hit with an expanded windfall tax of 35%, up from the current levy 25%, and electric vehicles will no longer be exempt from vehicle excise duty from April 2025, which he claimed would make the industry "fairer”.

In response, Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves called for "a modern industrial strategy, where government works hand in hand with business, properly fixing business rates, so that small businesses and high street businesses thrive again and ensures Britain is the best place to start and grow a business."

Reeves claimed Hunt and the Conservatives had "crashed the economy, given up on growth and sent inflation through the roof" and accused the chancellor of offering "yet more excuses and unfair choices" and having "no plan for the future of our country".